


The Principal's Office

by a_court_of_fanfiction_and_freakouts



Category: Throne of Glass Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: Alternate Universe - Teachers, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-17
Updated: 2016-08-18
Packaged: 2018-08-09 11:17:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7799683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_court_of_fanfiction_and_freakouts/pseuds/a_court_of_fanfiction_and_freakouts
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aelin is late to her job as a high school science teacher and gets in trouble with her boss, Principal Whitethorn.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Principal's Office

Aelin was having a very rough day. She accidentally hit the snooze button one too many times and woke up forty minutes late with some hearty swear words on her lips. After sweeping her unwashed hair into a bun at the top of her head and grabbing the stick of deodorant to put on in the car, she left her apartment in an unbuttoned shirt—not having the time to care if her neighbors saw her in lacy white bra that she had snagged off of the floor of her bedroom—and her pants, wrinkled and without a belt. All the way murmuring a steady stream of “shit shit shit shit shit shit” throughout the rush.

Her boss was going to kill her. Principal Whitethorn had always had a stick up his ass, but recently, Aelin thought he had been especially ornery. And even more so when it came to her. He was always criticizing, sending her emails saying that this one thing that she did was not up to his standards and sending her critical glares in the teacher’s lounge. 

While Aelin slammed her mug of coffee into the cupholder, effectively splashing it on her pants, she pulled her cell phone out of her purse and immediately dialed Dorian’s number and started speeding out of the parking lot. 

A cheery hello—much too upbeat for this early in the morning, Aelin thought—answered on the third ring.

“Dorian! Oh my god please save my ass before it gets chewed out!”

He chuckled in response. “Oh, Aelin. Are you running late again?”

She had zero patience for his teasing tone as she sped through a yellow—and then red—light and zoomed onto the freeway. “FUCK!” she shouted as she slammed on her brakes to avoid the stopped line of cars in front of her. Even after skipping her morning shower, she was going to be ten minutes late. But now, this. Traffic. Of course she would get stuck in traffic on the day she was already running late.

The blue-eyed English teacher on the other side of the phone at least had the decency to sound concerned. “Aelin? What’s wrong? Are you alright?”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine. That is, if I don’t lose my job.” She said another string of curses, but this time more defeated instead of angry. “Dorian. I am begging you. Please cover for me until I get there.” She grabbed the stick of deodorant and swiped it on her underarms and hastily began buttoning her light blue shirt.

“Aelin. I teach English, not biology. Even if I did have the slightest inkling of what you taught those kids, I work in a different building!”

“Come on. All you have to do is walk in all tough and act like you know what you’re doing, put on a movie, and then you can get back to your own class. Oh! I haven’t showed them the miracle of childbirth yet! That one will definitely hold their attention until I get there.” The line of cars was slowly moving forward. Come on, she thought, just one more exit to go. Almost there.

“Aelin,” Dorian’s voice was a fierce whisper now, as if he wanted to shout but couldn’t because of potential listening ears. Fuck. Class starts in four minutes. “You know I don’t like the high schoolers! They’re so pretentious and cocky. And I get why they mesh with your personality because you are also pretentious and cocky, but I prefer to deal with my kind elementary school children who are still excited and happy to come to school each day. And besides, I don’t even know if I could handle putting on a childbirth movie. You do remember how I passed out both times Sorscha was having our kids, right?”

“Dorian. You know I wouldn’t be asking you if I didn’t need your help on this.”

“Why can’t you just ask Chaol? You know that he works in his office during the morning after conditioning with the football players.”

She gave out a massive groan at the mention of her recent ex-boyfriend who also happened to be the head of the athletics department at the private school all of them worked at.

“Dorian. Are you kidding me? Are you even my friend? How could you suggest something like that? It would be humiliating. I would rather have my children sit in a classroom without their teacher for twenty minutes before I gave Chaol the satisfaction of knowing how screwed over I am this morning!” Chaol had always been there to wake her up in the morning with a mug of coffee and hot breakfast. While she didn’t miss the relationship with him, she certainly missed those morning benefits.

She heard the school bell ring through Dorian’s phone and gave another long string of curses.

“Sorry Aelin. Really, I am. But I’ve got to go. My kids are waiting. I’m going to tell them about Shakespeare for the first time!”

Aelin groaned and leaned her head against the wheel of her horn, knowing she was going to be in so much trouble. “Well tell the brats I say hello. And don’t bother saving me a seat at the teacher’s table during lunch today since I am so going to get fired for this.” She hung up the phone before she could hear his reply and inched forward in the line of traffic.

After the longest twelve minutes of her life, she managed to reach the exit ramp and sped away, hoping against hope that none of her students had ratted her out. After a few more minutes of reckless driving through the neighborhoods surrounding the school, Aelin finally turned into the parking lot.

She sped-walked while stuffing the hem of her shirts into her pants, still wet from coffee, and checked her time. Seventeen minutes. Not as bad as she thought it would be, but still enough to get her in significant trouble.

Walking through the white halls, she listened for signs of rebellious teenagers doing god-knows-what heinous things in a biology laboratory without the supervision of their teacher. But she only heard silence. So far, so good. Maybe one of her favorite students had kept the class in line until she arrived.

Aelin continued to murmur a steady stream of “shit” with every step she took until she reached the classroom door and walked in as if she wasn’t showing up almost halfway through the class. To her great surprise, the students were sitting at their desks, books and notepads open, reading and writing and not saying a word.

A “what the—” escaped her mouth before she noticed the large figure of Principal Whitethorn sitting at her desk in the back corner, face tense and red with anger.

“Great work, kids! I’m glad you’ve gotten a head start on studying for your test next week.” She thoroughly ignored the scowling figure with his bright green eyes fixed on her and hoped he would leave if she started teaching the class normally.

“Alright. Today, we’re finishing the circulatory system—” Before she could finish, the principal stood up from the back of the room and cleared his throat.

“Ms. Galathynius. If we could please have a word in my office about your—” he looked up and down at the mess of an outfit she had managed to put together in five minutes, “tardiness. Children, continue your studies. Mr. Ashryver next door is going to alert me if he hears any noises coming from this room.” Aelin’s students didn’t dare say a word, and one of them gave her a look that said good luck as the principal walked out the classroom door, not even bothering to look back and see if Aelin was following him.

When they reached his office, he promptly sat down behind his desk and she plopped into one of the chairs facing him, as if she was a child about to be scolded. He gave her a scalding glare as he looked up and down her figure a second time and frowned.

“The buttons on your shirt aren’t lined up. Also, there’s a coffee stain on your pants.” The hulking man patiently waited, his hands grasped together on top of the desk in front of him as she fixed the buttons of her shirt—unintentionally revealing parts of the lacy bra—and attempted to rub out the brown stain a bit. When she was done, she looked up and gave him the best placating smile she could muster. He didn’t say anything. She just continued smiling, refusing to be the first to speak.

“Well? Do you have anything to say for yourself?”

Aelin attempted her best ashamed look, which meant pressing her arms together on the sides to push her breasts forward—this trick unsurprisingly worked on most men—and placed her hands on top of her crossed knee. “I just bought a new alarm, and it didn’t go off at the right time! I’m taking it back into the store today for a refund because clearly it didn’t work. And then of course there was an accident on the freeway so I was stuck in stopped traffic.”

Principal Whitethorn just narrowed his eyes and ground his teeth, noticing her posture and seeing straight through her lies. “Your alarm clock didn’t work? Is that so? Then how did you manage to even wake up at all? Because you certainly don’t seem like a morning person.”

It was Aelin’s turn to narrow her gold and blue eyes at him and grind her teeth. How did she think that she could ever get away with lying to this man? “Well, the one that woke me up this morning was a backup alarm.” She looked at the painting on the wall behind him instead of looking at his eyes.

“Well then I suggest you start using your “backup” alarm clock as your everyday one since it works to some extent at least.”

“Yes, I suppose it does.” She refused to look at him and admit that she was caught in a lie. He cleared his throat as if she was supposed to say something else. God, this man was so infuriating. “Is that all then? Am I free to go?” She didn’t dare ask if she was fired, just in case he hadn’t thought of that, she certainly didn’t want to give him the idea.

“No, actually you’re not. But before I address the next topic of discussion with you, stop that ridiculous posing. You act as if you need to accentuate your breasts more than they already are.” Aelin’s mouth dropped open in an “o” of surprise and her arms automatically relaxed at her side, but before she could say anything in response, the principal continued on. Have his eyes always been that piercing green color? She shook the thought from her head and tried to focus on what he was saying instead of his burning gaze.

“…and with his retirement, I think that you should become the new head of the science department.” If it was even possible, her mouth opened wider in shock as she stared back at the man just as intently as he was looking at her.

“What did you just say?”

“I want you to be the head of the science department here at Terrasen High.”

“You have got to be kidding me.”

“And why do you say that?”

“Because you hate me! Everyone knows it. The glares, the criticisms, the constant nagging to ‘do this better’ and ‘do that a different way’!” Aelin wasn’t sure when she had stood from her seat, and she knew that really she should just shut up and say thank you, but now that she had started, she couldn’t stop. This man had been a jerk to her ever since he started working here a year ago. All the other teachers knew how he despised her; it was clear to everyone! And now he wanted to promote her to the highest position she could achieve as a teacher? “You have never liked me since the day you walked on to this campus, and now you just want to promote me? Give me the job that I’ve wanted since my first day? And on the day when I’m so late that you have to humiliate me in front of my students? I don’t believe this.”

Aelin hadn’t realized how tall and broad he was until the principal stood up and leaned on the desk, now suddenly seeming small, between them. “I understand that you made a mistake, and that’s why you’re late. I’m not going to scold you like a child for it. You’re an adult. You can handle your own problems.” Her nostrils flared at his words.

“You are the one that treats me like a child! You don’t let a single week go by without telling me I am doing something wrong!” She was so getting fired now, after shouting at the principal and pointing a finger in his face like she was now. She had unknowingly mirrored his position leaning across the desk. “If you think I can handle being the head of the department, why haven’t you just let me do my current job the way I want to? I’m an adult, right? So why do you insist on treating me a student in one of your classes? I do not need to be ordered about and constantly told how badly I’m failing at my job!” Aelin was shouting so loud that anyone in the secretary’s office right outside or in the hallway could most likely hear them, but the principal matched her volume.

“I treat you that way to make you better. Because I am trying to get you to live up to the full potential of being a fantastic teacher! Obviously, I think highly of your teaching if I’m even bothering to help you.”

“Oh, you’re “helping me”? Is that what you’re telling yourself, you pretentious prick? You think you’re so scary and intimidating, but I am not scared of you, Principal Whitethorn!”

His eyes flashed in anger, brighter than Aelin had ever seen before and bared his teeth as he shouted the words, “For God’s sake woman, call me Rowan,” before he collapsed back into his armchair with his hand over his face in exasperation. Aelin only realized how loud they’d been when the silence stretched between them. She pulled on the hem of her shirt, attempting to straighten it out a bit before settling back down into her own seat.

Princi—Rowan’s voice was quieter now, more rational sounding than the screaming that had just occurred. “Aelin, is that really what you think of me? You think that I see myself as better than the rest of you?”

She didn’t reply, just crossed her arms and cast her eyes downward. He left out a swift curse which made her eyes look up in surprise. But his were staring at the wall and he rubbed a hand over his face again.

“You know, I really am just trying to help you. You’re already a great teacher—your students and coworkers all adore you—but you could still be better. Especially if you were in charge of the sciences. I thought,” his eyes came back to her face and latched onto her own, “that you knew that. That you could see my ‘criticizing and nagging,’ as you so kindly put it, as my way of encouraging you. I don’t—I don’t give any of the other teachers the same attention.”

Aelin only managed a small “oh” as his eyes burned fire into her own, as she recollected all the times that he had said something to her and completely ignored the surrounding teachers, and his comment about her breasts earlier…oh. She had never really thought about the principal—about Rowan that way, but that was mostly just because she had still been dating Chaol when he started working here, and then just assumed he hated her.

But now? Now that she saw the earnestness in his eyes? Now that she noticed exactly how broad his shoulders were and the cut of his jaw and remembered the few times she had seen him smiling and laughing with students and how attractive she had found him then? Well now, she could see it all.

She could see how his criticizing really was helping on his part. To be fair, all the things he had pointed out to her had been true, and her students had always benefitted from the things he had said to her. She could see that he really was proud of her and her teaching. None of her students had ever failed an AP Biology exam, and many of them came to talk to her whenever they had personal issues in her life. She had always known she was a good teacher, but she didn’t see until now that Rowan knew that too. That he was trying to make her even better. And he thought she deserved this position.

And his assurance in her and her abilities made her stomach warm in a way that she didn’t want to think about right now.

Neither of them had spoken yet. It was her turn to speak first.

“I would love to have the job as the head of the science department. Thank you for believing that I could handle it,” he nodded, still gazing intently at her so she added, “Rowan” to the end of her sentence, which brought a grin onto his face. Which of course caused a blush to form on hers.

“Good. I’m glad to hear that you’ll accept the position. You’re free to go back to your students now, Aelin.” The way he said her name did funny things to her already warm stomach. She stood and turned to the door, but his eyes never left hers.

Aelin paused with one hand on the doorknob and turned halfway to meet his gaze with one of her own, just as intense. “Would you like to have lunch with me today? Usually I sit with Dorian and Aedion in the cafeteria, but technically, I’m not on lunch duty today so I can also leave campus if you want—if that’d be something that you’re interested in.” All of her words came out rushed and clumsy as the blush crept further up her face, but he gave her a roguish grin which made her breath catch and stomach flip on itself.

“Yes, Aelin. I would like that very much.”

“Alright then. I’ll—uh—I’ll come find you I guess. Okay, bye.” She could not walk out of that office fast enough, almost tripping on the doorjamb before closing the door and leaning against it to catch her breath.

The secretary, whose existence Aelin had completely forgot about, just chuckled and said, “Well I’m glad someone has finally been able to get under that man’s skin.”

Aelin could not respond as she rushed from the hallway and back to her own students, face bright red and heart pumping loudly as she thought about the lunch date she had just procured for herself.


	2. Fast Cars and Beating Hearts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 2 of "The Prinicipal's Office," where Rowan and Aelin go on their lunch date to get to know each other better.

The students in sixth period made sure to tell the rest of the grade that Ms. G. had been in a great mood during their class and had promised to make the test their easiest one yet.

Aelin had run to the bathroom immediately after her conversation with Principal Whi—No, she thought to herself, he asked me to call him Rowan. She mused over the name in her mind, and thought about it until she caught sight of herself in the bathroom mirror and scowled. Of course, she hadn’t had time for makeup this morning and her hair was a mess. It wasn’t in one of those cute messy buns that took a lot of time to make look effortless. It was in an actual messy bun, with strands at the back of her neck floating around as if they didn’t have a bun that they belonged in.

Aelin hurried to the students that had been sitting in her classroom for the first half of the period and managed to teach them the beginning of Chapter 55: “The Circulatory System.”

One of her favorite students stayed in the classroom a minute after the bell. “I hope you didn’t get into too much trouble with the principal this morning, Ms. G.”

“No, actually, everything turned out alright. Thanks for asking though, Ansel.”

“You know, whenever guys are mean to me, I just like to think that they’re stuck in the elementary school phase where they only tease girls that they have crushes on."

Aelin could only press her lips together at the insinuation her student was making as she responded, “Thanks for the advice, Ansel. Now go on, you have class with my ever-irritating cousin next period.”

Aelin took a deep breath as the student walked out and tried to move on with her day. She praised an earlier version of herself that had had the smarts to keep an emergency bag under her desk. Not for health emergencies or anything, just the emergencies that she actually cared about. The kit included concealer, mascara, sensible lipstick, a hairbrush, dry shampoo, deodorant, perfume, and a classy pair of gold hoops. She applied every piece of the kit to her person in the small break between first and second period and scowled when she ran into Aedion coming out of the bathroom.

“Who you dressing up for, cuz? I heard you got chewed out by the principal this morning? Are you going to make amends?” Aedion gave her an exaggerated wink and licked his lips.

Aelin shoved him, aware of the high school students surrounding them in the hallway and wished it were appropriate for teachers to throw the middle finger at school. “Shut up, Aedion.”

“That’s it?” Aedion turned around as she passed him and continued talking to her back, increasing in volume, as she walked to her classroom. “’Shut up’? That’s all you’ve got? Come on, Aelin. You can do better than that.”

Pursing her lips and fisting her hands at her side, Aelin kept her head up and ignored him, but the door didn’t shut behind her before she heard his next comment.

“Hey, Dorian! Looks like we’ve find ourselves a new teacher’s pet! Or should I say…principal’s pet?”

She had no idea how her infuriating cousin, and the freshman year history teacher, had heard about the lunch date—no she needed to stop calling it a date. It was just a…meeting. Yes! A meeting. With her boss. Who was attractive. And maybe attracted to her? Nope, no she could not think like that. Ansel was just a silly school girl; she didn’t really know what she was talking about. Aelin tried to focus back on the students sitting in desks before her. They needed to learn about the heart.

Oh god. The heart? Really?

And Aelin was certainly not lucky enough to get through the second period without a student asking, “Why does your heart race when exciting things happen, Ms. G?”

She explained adrenaline and fight-or-flight responses, but then the student asked, “Well, what about when you’re attracted to someone?”

Aelin’s heart, of course, started pumping a bit faster as she explained that attraction made your heart beat faster to pump more blood through your veins to give certain parts of your body a higher blood supply. And then the student asked her to clarify exactly which parts needed a higher blood supply.

Aelin responded quite gruffly, “Your genitals, Amanda. Your heart beats faster basically to make you horny. Alright? No more questions? Great, let’s get back to the lecture.”

Needless to say, the students in second period has whispered in the hallways to the third period students that Ms. G. was in a cranky mood today and not to rile her up because she still hadn’t written next week’s test and mentioned just how easy it would be to slip in a few college-level question.

The plan to keep her un-agitated may have worked if the students had taken into consideration the rather large role that Mr. Ashryver played in irritating her.

Aelin was torn between staying in her classroom for the five minute break between classes or going into the hallway because she really did not want to deal with Aedion right now, but what if Rowan happened to walk by? She decided to wait in the hallway, but not, she told herself, because of Rowan. I just need to watch the students and make sure they’re behaving. Yes, that was certainly it.

The woman could not catch a break, however. She groaned as she left the safety of her classroom to see a mischievously grinning Aedion leaning against the wall opposite her door.

“What do you want Aedion?”

“Nothing. Absolutely nothing.” He pretended to examine his fingernails, one foot propped on the wall behind him. The perfect picture of fake innocence. “I just heard a rumor, is all.”

“Oh? And what rumor would that be? Is it about Tom and Caroline dating again? Because for the thousandth time, I told you not to bother me with the freshman drama.”

“Oh, Aelin. Oh, silly, naïve Aelin.” She ground her teeth and fisted her hands at her sides, students quickly making themselves sparse at the sight of the blonde teacher getting angrier by the second.

There were very few times when Aelin let her temper get the best of her in front of her students, but the rare moments had become widespread stories and very few students were stupid enough to make her angry after that.

“What is it, Aedion?” She ground out. His smile just grew wider and more obnoxious.

Before he could respond though, Principal Whitethorn came walking down the hallway. His eyes immediately locked with hers and then roved down and back up at her body and slightly cleaned up appearance. The red in her face that had started because of anger crept farther up her neck as he grinned at her.

“Are we still on for lunch?” Rowan’s voice was deep and smooth.

She could only manage a close-lipped nod in response.

“Great. See you then.” The silver-haired man turned away and continued down the hallway, whistling a cheery tune with hands in his pockets. She noted how good his broad shoulders looked in the navy blazer he wore as he put up a hand to high-five a student.

She slowly turned back to facing forward and was greeted by the sight of Aedion, mouth agape and eyes wide.

“Don’t you dare,” Aelin cut him off before he could remark on what had just happened. She turned quickly back into her classroom and the echoes of Aedion’s hearty laughter mixed with the ringing of the bell as third period started.

Aelin’s students noted how her face was red for the entire class and she seemed flustered whenever someone asked her a question. None of them dared set her off though.

In the break between third and fourth period, Aelin texted her best friend Lysandra.

A: i may or may not have a lunch date with the principal?

L: What?!!!!! Aelin Ashryver Galathynius you get on the phone with me RIGHT NOW and explain.

A: i cant class is starting in a couple minutes

A: aedion is being a dick about it

L: Don’t worry about him. I’ll yell at him when he gets home later tonight.

Lysandra also happened to be the wife of her cousin, and Aelin never got tired for taking the credit for that relationship.

A: please do. hes obnoxious

L: You don’t have the right to complain. At least you don’t have to live with him!

A: do i need to remind u that u made the decision to marry him?

L: Ugh no. Cleaning up after his mess is reminder enough.

A: got to go. kids are coming in

L: If you do not text me AS SOON AS that date is over missy, you will be in BIG trouble.

Aelin just laughed at her friend as she turned her attention to the students sitting before her and thought to herself, Just one more period. One more hour before lunch.

Unsurprisingly, the time stretched on and on.  
Aelin never imagined that knocking on someone’s door could be so hard.

 

Come on, she told herself, shifting from foot to foot and biting her lip. It’s just a door. To your boss’ office. Who you didn’t even like until four hours ago anyway. Grow a pair.

She raised a hand to Rowan’s office door. Before her knuckles could fall against it though, it swung open and Rowan almost walked right into her.

“Oh! Hi there. I was—uhh. I was just coming to see you. And—and see if you still wanted to get lunch or something.” Dear god, she was a babbling fool. Normally, Aelin was able to keep her cool around men, but for some reason this man got under her skin in a particular way.

Rowan gave her a sideways grin. “Yes, I do still want to get lunch. Come on.” He started walking through the hallway towards the teachers’ parking lot with Aelin trailing. “Where do you want to go?”

“Hmmm. Let me think.” Aelin was the kind of girl who could come up with a thousand options and never actually make a decision on one. She began listing off her favorite restaurants in the area, counting them off her fingers, but Rowan stopped her once she was made it to seven.

“Wait. Are there really this many places to eat near us?”

“Yeah. Have you not been to any of them?”

“No. I uhh–I moved here kind of recently.” Rowan looked in the opposite direction of Aelin and rubbed a hand on the back of his neck.

“What? You’ve been the principal here for an entire year. What do you mean you moved here recently?”

Rowan still avoided eye contact with her as he responded. “Oh, right. Well, I guess I just don’t get out much.”

Aelin remained cheery, not wanting to push him on something that he was clearly uncomfortable with. “I know just the place to go then. They have really nice outdoor seating, and we have great weather right now. And they have something for everyone!”

“Sounds good to me.” Rowan stopped in front of sleek silver sports car. Aelin’s mouth dropped open at finally being able to see it up close. Every morning, she was green with envy when she passed it in the parking lot and swore at her teacher’s salary. It was the exact car she would have bought if she could afford it.

“Are you saying that we get to take your car?” Rowan just nodded smugly with his hands in his pockets as Aelin circled it, mouth agape and hands outstretched. She wanted to touch it–oooh she wanted to drive it–but she didn’t dare let her hands make contact with the cool metal lest she get fingerprints on it or mess something up.  
He laughed at her reaction, seeming proud of his vehicle.

“How can you possibly afford this car?” Aelin straightened and gave a death glare to Rowan. “Wait a minute. Exactly how much more is your salary than mine.”

“Oh, Aelin.” Rowan walked up so he was beside her and clasped a hand on her shoulder. “I am definitely not going to give you the answer to that question.” At the sight of the contempt in her eyes, he laughed again. “My salary is not that much more than yours, don’t worry. This was a gift. There is no way I would be able to afford this on my salary.”

“Well I suppose that makes me feel a bit better. But what kind of friends do you have that can give you gifts like this?” 

He had the same kind of look as before that said it was a topic that he didn’t want to broach. So she let it be. She knew better than anyone that some things were better left unsaid.

He shifted his look back into a grin and gave her a dangerous look while extending a hand to her, a glimmering pair of silver keys in his hand. “Do you want to drive it?”

“No way. You’re going to let me drive this thing? This is a dream come true I kid you not!” Before he could reconsider what he might be getting himself and his car into, Aelin snatched the keys out of his hand and immediately jumped into the driver’s seat with a whoop of joy. 

Rowan climbed into the passenger’s seat, starting to regret his decision as he listened to Aelin’s maniacal laughter at the sound of the engine roaring to life. 

“Okay, please be care–” his words were cut off with a swear as Aelin threw the car into reverse and whipped out of the parking lot, continuing her maniacal laughter. Rowan braced his hand on the ceiling of the interior and hastily buckled his seatbelt, hoping it would be enough to save him if this crazy woman got them into an accident. Despite himself, he managed a smile, seeing how she got so much more joy out of the car than he ever could. He could never take risks like that, speeding through the roads as she did, enjoying the feel of the wind on her face with the window rolled completely down, yelling with joy like a teenager. 

Rowan couldn’t stop the smile on his face as he stared at the young science teacher, her vivaciousness seeping through every pore. Although he shrieked when she whipped the car into the parking space at the small cafe she had taken them too, nearly hitting the side of the minivan the next space over, Aelin managed to get them there unscatched.

“Wow. Wasn’t that fun?” Her eyes were bright with joy and adrenaline, and Rowan’s grin matched her own.

“Well, besides the constant fear of my imminent death, I have to admit it was fun.” She punched his arm playfully, and started to get out of the car. Rowan couldn’t help but notice the curve of her ass as she stood from the start and realized he was staring when she bent her top half back into the car, exposing her cleavage, and asked, “Aren’t you coming?”

He looked at her, wondering if she was aware of how she looked to him at his moment: golden hair piled on top of her head with a few strands floating artfully around her face, golden hoops that matched her hair color and the perfect “o” shape of her pink lips, blue and gold eyes shining, almost glowing in the light coming through the windshield, and of course just the top curve of her breasts could be seen from this angle. Looking at her face though, he couldn’t detect any hints of foul play, and decided she was seemingly unaware of how she appeared.

Aelin made sure to keep an innocent face as the principal stared at her in the car before shaking his head and climbing out. She had known exactly what she had been doing when she climbed out of the car before him, managing to snag his attention with her ass, and then keep it with just the hint of her breasts being exposed at the top of the shirt. She smirked to herself and sauntered into the whitewashed wooden building, giving him another chance to admire her curves.

Is she doing this on purpose? Rowan thought, entranced by the way her hips swung with every step. There’s no way she walks like this normally. I would have noticed, right?

They walked inside, ordered their meals, and sat down at a picnic bench on the porch outside the restaurant.

“How did you find this place? It’s not really near anything else.” In fact, the restaurant was in the middle of a field. They’d had to drive nearly fifteen minutes outside the city to arrive there.

“I pride myself in being able to find delicious local places to eat. I’m not a fan of fast food or chain restaurants. I like being able to learn the owner’s name and story. Most of these people have lived here their whole lives with generations before them living here as well. For instance, the woman that owns this place inherited it from her father, who inherited it from his father, and so on and so forth for like six generations or something crazy like that. She told me that it used to be her grandfather’s home as well as the restaurant and then her dad finally got enough money from the business to buy them a house separate from here.”

Rowan was mesmerized as she talked. He stared at the way her lips moved, the lilting of her voice, how her eyes stared off in the distance as if she was vividly imagining the generations of families living in this building. He didn’t hear half of the things that came out of her mouth because he was so focused on her. 

A small blonde child in a bright pink smock balancing their two plates on her small hands walked out to them and handed them her food. Aelin patted the child on the head, “Thank you Evangeline,” and received the child’s wide grin in return. The girl walked to a small child’s table at the corner of the porch where several workbooks were laid out and plopped down in a chair before picking up a pencil and furiously circling things on the paper, all the while sticking her tongue out of her mouth in concentration.

“Lysandra used to babysit Evangeline whenever the restaurant was closed so her mom could run errands and pick up supplies for her homeschooling. That’s how I found out about this place. Of course, Evangeline isn’t an official employee, but her mom told me that she insists on ‘helping out in her own way.’” Aelin took a massive bite of her barbecue sandwich and moaned at the taste of the delicious sauce in her mouth.

Rowan paused mid-chew at the sound that came from Aelin and cleared his throat before finishing his bite. “Who’s Lysandra?”

Aelin didn’t bother finishing her bite before responding, giving Rowan a glimpse at her chewed up sandwich. “Oh, she’s just my best friend. And she’s Aedion’s wife! You’ve probably seen her on campus a couple times. She’s tall, dark-haired, unbelievably attractive. It’s actually impossible to miss her whenever she walks by.”

He knew exactly what woman she was referencing, but refused to acknowledge it. “Hmmm no, that doesn’t ring a bell. Maybe I just didn’t notice her.”

Aelin scoffed in disbelief. “She’s a legitimate model. And completely possible to ignore. Trust me, I’ve been on enough double dates with her where both men hit on her.” She gave a good-humoured laugh, but Rowan just shook his head.

“Well then those men were idiots.” Aelin blushed at the insinuation and stuffed her face with more food so she didn’t have to respond.

“So, Lysandra is your best friend and wife of your cousin who also seems to be your best friend?” Aelin nodded along with each statement. “And that teacher Dorian is a good friend too, right?”

“Mhmm. Dorian and I know each other from way back. We went to grad school together and even dated for a bit.” Aelin winced at the idea of dating him now. He was just too good a friend to be anything else. “But that relationship did not last long; it was definitely doomed from the start.”

“How come?”

“Well for starters, I like him and Chaol at the same time. Bad idea.”

“Chaol…” Rowan mused, as if he had to try and remember who the man was. “Oh, the P.E. teacher! Right, you two were dating when I first came here, weren’t you?”

“Well, to be fair, he is an ‘athletic director’, not a P.E. teacher, but yes. We were dating.”

“And what happened?” Rowan stared at his food, trying to act as nonchalantly as possible, but he wasn’t fooling anyone.

Aelin sighed, not sure how she wanted to answer the question. She could go into the painful details of their breakup and how the rift in their relationship was caused by the death of her best friend, Nehemia, but Aelin didn’t feel like bringing that up on such a beautiful day. Not to mention that she hardly knew the principal; she doubted he would want to hear the messy details of her life. She had been through a lot: the death of her parents, a car accident she had been involved in at the age of sixteen which had paralyzed from the waist down until she had had full back surgery, followed a few years later by Nehemia’s death in a car accident on the same stretch of highway that Aelin had had hers. Having a messy life usually meant having messy relationships, in Aelin’s experience.

“There was an…incident. In the aftermath, I changed a lot as a person and when I came out on the other side, we just weren’t compatible any more.” Rowan sensed that there was a lot that she wasn’t saying, but he had been through his fair share of pain and didn’t want to make her share any more than what she was comfortable with.

“And what about you?” Aelin tried to turn the conversation off of herself. “Why aren’t you wearing a wedding ring? With the car you drive, you seem like quite the eligible bachelor.”

Rowan tried to manage a small laugh, but it came off as more of a grimace. “I actually was married once. My wife passed several years ago though.” Rowan looked at the grains of wood on the table instead of looking up and seeing the pity that was surely written on Aelin’s face.

“Rowan, I–I had no idea. I’m so sorry. That’s a horrible thing to have to go through.” When he finally managed to meet her eyes, he didn’t see pity though. He saw…understanding. She had been through some horrible things herself and could look pain and horror in the eye without flinching. He found it was a quality he rather admired. 

Thankfully, instead of having to try and find a new topic of conversation, Evangeline walked up to their table holding a pitcher of ice water in her hands. She tried to refill their drinks, but she could hardly carry the thing and was certainly not tall enough to pour it into their plastic cups. 

Rowan reached down and grabbed the pitcher, his large hands dwarfing those of the child. “Thank you very much, Evangeline.” He poured both his and Aelin’s water glasses to the top and returned the pitcher to the waiting girl. They watched her walk away and return to her studies dutifully.

“Aelin, what made you want to be a teacher?”  
She considered her answer a moment before responding, head tipped to the ceiling and lips pursed, giving Rowan the perfect opportunity to admire her slender neck.

“I originally thought I wanted to be a doctor. I went into college and took the pre-med classes and everything and was so determined that all I wanted to do was help people. To get field experience though, the summer after my sophomore high I worked as an EMT. I loved being able to take vitals and staunch blood flows and put in IVs and I even got to use a defibrilator once, it was awesome!” Rowan thought that most people would not qualify those things as awesome, but Aelin seemed like the kind of person who would enjoy gorey movies and doing dissections and seeing gross things up close that sent other people running just because it satiated her curiosity. 

“But what I couldn’t handle was the people. There were so many people that would call an ambulance for the stupidest things! And a lot of the times it was just because they were too lazy to take themselves to the hospital, even if it wasn’t an emergency. The worst cases were when person A would call an ambulance for person B, but once we got there person B did not want to go to the hospital at all, even if they were having an actual emergency, and we practically had to fight them to get them there.”

Rowan smiled to himself just imagining the young blonde haired woman standing down people denying that they needed medical help. He bet she was a real force to be reckoned with when she wanted to be. 

“So once I realized that I couldn’t handle being a doctor because of the amount of annoying people I would have to come in contact with, I quit being pre-med. But science was still my favorite subject, and Dorian and Aedion were the ones that convinced me to take up teaching. This way, I still get to talk about anatomy, teach the kids practical science like how to test blood pressure, and oversee dissections. Now, I still deal with annoying people, but I find that the high schoolers are a bit more intimidated of me then middle aged men in denial that they’re having a heart attack.”

“Well, I think you picked a very fitting career.” 

Aelin gave a sweet smile at the compliment. “And what’s your elaborate backstory that made you want to be a principal?”

“Well, it certainly wasn’t always the job I had in mind. When I was a kid actually,” Rowan gave a huff of laughter at the memory, “I used to want to be a comedian and I would use my library card just so I could look up jokes on the internet and then give skits to my parents made entirely of unoriginal jokes. I–”

“Tell me a joke right now.”

“Well let me make it clear that I wasn’t good at it even when it was actually what I wanted to do as a living, and I certainly didn’t get better at it as time went on. My mom always said I was too serious to be telling jokes for a living.”

“Yes, I think your mom was definitely right, but I want to hear one anyway. I want to know how much potential you had when you were at your peak.

Rowan thought for a moment, a bit distracted at the way she was smiling at him across the table before he remembered one that he read in the newspaper last week. “Okay, I’ve got one. Did you hear about the fire in the circus?” He paused for dramatic effect. “It was in tents.” Rowan looked at her with a large grin on her face, waiting for her reaction.

Aelin stared at him mouth slack for a moment before bursting out in raucous laughter. “That was horrible! That was the worst joke I’ve ever heard! I mean, I totally love a good pun, but that was quite possibly the worst one I’ve ever heard.”

“Hey, now. You didn’t say you wanted a good joke. And that wasn’t half bad for coming up with it on the spot.”

Aelin had to remove her hand from her sandwich to clutch at her stomach because she was laughing so hard, and eventually Rowan started laughing, if only from the sight of her.

For the rest of the hour, they continued talking in a more lighthearted manner. They had both had horrible bosses in the past that completely controlled their lives. Both of them were very into fitness and health food, although Aelin admitted that she often caved and opted for the unhealthy food that tasted better over the “organic grains that taste like cardboard.” Anyone could have guessed that though, just looking at what they had ordered. Aelin’s barbecue sandwich compared to Rowan’s avocado, tomato, and pesto sandwich.

Both of them lost track of time, and it was only a text from Lysandra asking how the lunch date was that brought Aelin’s attention to the clock at the top of the phone. 

“Shit! Oh we are so going to be tardy. At least we’ve got an in with the big man upstairs.” Aelin winked as she sprinted towards the car and Rowan laughed cheerfully as he caught up to her.

“Do you promise to drive more safely than you did on our way here?” Rowan withheld the keys from her, his hands on the top of the car while she pouted standing in front of the driver’s side.

“Oh absolutely not! You do realize that we have ten minutes to get back to campus, right? And I do not want to be yelled at for being late again.”

“Well, if I’m also late with you, then I don’t think I have the right to be reprimanding you.”

“Think of the children, Rowan. They’ll just be sitting in a classroom without a teacher to guide them. Think of all the horrible things they could get up to without me there to stop them. You do realize my classroom doubles a biology laboratory with real chemicals in it, don’t you?”

He sighed, finally giving in to her and tossing the keys across the roof of the car. Rowan wasn’t sure he’d be able to deny her anything if she persisted.

If he thought Aelin’s driving had been crazy on the ride here, he wasn’t sure what to qualify the drive back as. True to her word though, she got them back just in time to slide into her classroom’s doorway as the bell for sixth period rang. 

Aelin had one hand on the doorknob and was about to step inside when Rowan clasped her free arm.

“Aelin. I had a really nice time at lunch today.”   
She turned back to him and just stared with a grin on her face, breathing just a bit heavier than normal because of their jog from the parking lot. “I did too, Rowan.”

His hand clasped her arm a moment longer before releasing it, though he didn’t break the eye contact. He was pretty sure that he would be thinking about those gold and blue eyes for the rest of his day.

Aelin’s grin stayed on her face as she turned into her classroom and began yet another lecture on the heart as her own continued pounding in her chest.


	3. Well-Mannered

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 3 of "the Principal's Office." Rowan comes to Aelin's classroom to talk to her, but things take an unexpected turn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: this chapter is VERY graphic and NSFW

Aelin hadn’t been able to stop smiling for the final two classes after lunch. She had just sent the last students of the day out of her classroom door, plopped down in her desk chair, and promptly ignored Aedion’s shit-eating grin when he walked in.

“I find myself asking you yet again, what do you want?”

He looked around at the open, empty doorway as students continued to mill about the hallway, hurrying to the final period for the day. 

“Why don’t you have any kids coming in?”

She shrugged. “Your classroom is next to mine. Don’t you remember that I don’t teach a class during the last period on Tuesdays? But I’ve got an entire test to write for them so it works out for me anyways.”

"I barely manage to keep track of my schedule, let alone yours.” Aelin rolled her eyes at him and wondered how Lysandra had managed to live with his unorganized life–as if her own was so much more orderly. “Make sure to make it killer for them,” he continued, “they’ve been very cocky lately. Oh, and I heard that you referred to me as your ‘ever-irritating cousin’?”

Aelin peered at the ceiling and stuck a pen under her chin in mock contemplation. “Hmmmm, doesn’t ring a bell. Although it certainly wouldn’t have been wrong if I had said it. Which of course I didn’t. Because why would I ever say such things about you, dear cousin?”

His lip curled up, and he nearly snarled at her. “All I know is that whenever you get annoyed with me, Lysandra conveniently finds something for me to do around the house. But whenever I ask her if you said something to her, she just walks away and avoids the question. Now I’m starting to think there’s a connection between your…overreactions to my jokes and my chores at home.” 

Aedion had walked all the way to her desk by now and placed both hands on it, giving a death glare to the cousin who was grinning at him so sweetly. 

“That doesn’t sound like something I would do. And besides, I’m sure you enjoy all the ‘punishments’ Lysandra comes up for you.” His face turned red as she winked, but he didn’t have time to respond before they heard someone walk in. 

While maintaining the mutual glare between her and Aedion, she addressed the newcomer. “Pop Quiz! Does the Superior Vena Cava flow into the right atrium or out of the right ventricle?”

Without missing a beat, Rowan answered, “It goes into the right atrium. The pulmonary artery is what pumps blood from the right ventricle to the rest of the body.”

She leaned back in her chair and turned her eyes toward him to see him walking slowly towards her with his hands in his pockets. “Very good, Principal.” A mischievous grin accompanied her response. 

"Now Aedion, would you have been able to answer that question?” She turned her sugar-sweet smile on him but his eyes only narrowed more. 

Rowan coughed pointedly. “Mr. Ashryver, I do believe you have a class starting in a minute.” His eyes didn’t leave Aelin’s face as he spoke the words though.

Aedion grumbled something unintelligent before storming towards the door.

“Oh, and if you would be so kind as to shut the door on your way out.” Rowan’s voice was firm and commanding, that of a boss and a man who knows exactly what he wants. 

The door slammed shut right as the bell for class began to ring and as Rowan came to sit on the edge of her desk. 

“And how can I be of assistance to you, Rowan?” His gaze became more intense when she said his name, and his eyes followed her every move as she stood slowly from her seat and walked around to come in front of him. 

He had turned his perch on her desk so that he was facing the front and if he widened his legs just a bit, Aelin would have been standing right between them. 

“Well there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you since we had lunch. You said you don’t have a class in here until school is over?”

He stood suddenly and she had to crane her neck up to meet his eyes. “Nope.” Aelin smirked and crossed her arms over her chest–but in a way to accentuate her breasts just a bit. “No students in here for the rest of the day.”

She wasn’t sure when his hands had come out of his pockets but he was currently turning them into fists and then flattening them back out again, over and over. His green eyes bore into her own and her mouth opened a bit at the intensity with which he looked at her. And then opened a bit more when she saw how he looked at her lips.

Her lips. Rowan thought he had never seen anything so enticing and sensuous. He almost drooled when she sucked one into her mouth and bit down gently on it.

When his eyes finally made their way back up to her face, Aelin’s eyes lit a fire in his groin and he didn’t dare wait a second longer before pulling her against him and kissing her fiercely.

His tongue. Aelin thought she was going to burst into flames when his lips finally met hers and his tongue instantly pushed between her lips and swept across her mouth. She pushed her own between his lips while running her fingers through his hair that had looked so thick and soft.

His tongue didn’t stop the exploration of her as his hands moved to her hips, not even bothering to stop at her waist, pushing her back and back until she hit one of the white painted cinderblock walls. She had the sense to peek an eye open and check to make sure no students playing hookie were looking through the glass panel in the door. She left the circle of his embrace, thrilling with pleasure when she noticed the groan that escaped his mouth as she left, to lock the door and then turned back to the waiting principal.

Aelin decided she been flustered and bumbling enough for one day. She stalked back to him slowly and placed her two hands against his chest, pushing him back until his calves ran into one of the student’s chairs and he sat down. She stood above him and ran a hand along his chest as she walked behind him, trailing that hand across his broad shoulders. Once she was standing behind him, pleased to see how his chest had started heaving, she pulled the jacket from his shoulders.

She had an intake of breath when she saw the edges of an intricate tattoo peeking from beneath his shirt collar. Aelin leaned down and brushed her lips against that skin between his collar and ear as her arms reached over and started unbuttoning his shirt. 

Rowan’s hands instantly started assisting hers and started pulling buttons through the holes in the shirt as fast as he could. Aelin ran her soft hands down the planes of his chest and stomach, revelling at the feel of his solid abdomen tensing underneath her fingertips. 

Still leaned over behind him, her mouth sucked and bit at the tattooed skin of his shoulders as Rowan tossed his head back with a deep exhale. Her eyes widened in pleasure as she noted the growing bulge of his pants. 

When she decided she wanted to look at him from a different angle, she stalked back around, always trailing that hand on him, and straddled him in the same chair that her student Roland sat in. She didn’t really care what happened to it; the kid was a brat anyways.

Rowan’s deft hands made quick work of the buttons on her shirt as she took her time removing his. Thank god she had enough luck to have picked up one of her lace bras on the way out of the apartment. She chuckled at his hurrying, her mouth pressed to his collarbone. “Are you in some sort of rush, Rowan?” 

The sultry tone set Rowan’s blood on fire and he pulled her head up, one hand roughly grasping her jaw, so he could look her in the eyes. “How long is one period, exactly?” 

Aelin smiled with pride at her handiwork when she heard how breathless he was. “Oh just,” she leaned back down and licked up the column of his neck, feeling him shiver beneath her, “fifty,” lick “long,” lick “minutes.”

“Fuck,” was his only response. Aelin gasped and straightened to look at him when he ground his hips against her and she could feel him through his pants and underwear as well as her own pants and–wait. Did she forget underwear in her rush this morning? She gave a wicked grin when she thought of how Rowan would react. 

He didn’t wait to find out what the mischievous face Aelin was making meant as he finished pulling her shirt completely off her shoulders and ripped his own off, not noticing how the buttons at the cuff were ripped off in his rush. His hands immediately went the clasp of that thin lace bra he had glimpsed earlier in his office and he growled as he was allowed unlimited access to her glorious breasts.

Aelin barely had time to brace her hands against his tattooed shoulders before his mouth latched onto one of her peaked nipples and his teeth scraped it. She let out a whimper as one of his hands gripped her ass and he continued to rub his hips against hers.

She was worried that her wetness would leak through her pants–effectively ruining them for the rest of the day–so she set to work on removing both of their pants. Her hands slid back down his chest, nails digging into his skin whenever he bit her breast hungrily like that until they reached his belt.

She had sworn that she was done with her fumbling, but those pesky belts always stumbled her. Rowan chuckled at her swearing and he pulled back far enough from her to undo it himself, making sure to keep eye contact as he undid the button and zipper. She bit her lip, loving how his nostrils flared and that muscle in his jaw popped out.

Slowly, oh so slowly, she removed herself from his lap, immediately missing the contact, and ran her hands down the planes of her own stomach until they reached the waistband of her pants. Rowan quickly bucked his hips off of the seat as he pulled his own pants and underwear off. His eyes followed the trail her hand was making across her own body, not paying attention to the effect that his cock had had on her because he was staring at her so intensely.

Aelin’s mouth dropped open at the sight of him, big and hard and waiting for her. She bit her lip again as she undid the restraints at her waistband and pushed her pants all the way to the ground. Rowan muttered a curse and Aelin watched as his cock grew and his own hand traveled up and down the length of his shaft.

She thoroughly enjoyed what the image of her naked body was doing to him, and an evil grin flashed across her face as the thought of exactly what she would do to this man.

“Aelin, please. Please come back here.” Rowan’s voice was low, her name a whispered prayer on his lips. Her grin only grew wider at the thought of how she wanted to see just how desperate he could get for her.

"You sure do say ‘please’ a lot.”

“Well, I was raised to be well-mannered, what can I say?” But his words trailed off and mouth dropped open as the beautiful woman before him dropped onto her hands and knees and started crawling back to him. It didn’t matter though if she was the one on her knees before him, both of them knew he was already putty in her hands.

When she reached him, she raised herself up and placed her lovely hands on his knee caps. Rowan took a moment to appreciate her beautiful face, right there between his knees, and couldn’t hold in a moan as she licked her lips.

“You’re going to have to be quiet, Rowan. These walls are much thinner than one would expect.”

Aelin kept the smirk on her face and made sure to keep staring at Rowan as she lowered her mouth and slid her tongue up his shaft. One of his hands landed on her shoulder and the other covered his mouth as his head tipped back in pleasure. Aelin’s tongue stroked him up and down as one hand played with his balls. His moans were driving her crazy though, especially when his hand grasped her shoulder tightly while she put as much of him in her mouth as possible and she felt his cock hitting the back of her throat.

“My god, Aelin.” Rowan leaned down to run his hands along her beautiful back; smooth, creamy skin marked by one long scar running along her spine. The calluses on his fingers gave Aelin goosebumps, but she didn’t stop her mission of seeing just how big he could get. 

That is, until his hands roamed over her ass and lower, lower. His arms were just long enough to be able to slip one finger inside her, especially when she arched her back like that. Aelin had to pause in her sucking, licking, and teasing to loose a breathe at the feel of his finger inside her. 

She knew she was wet. She had known since he had ground his hips against hers through the fabric. But Rowan cursed at the feel of her slickness, at how much she wanted him. She pulled her face away from between his knees to look at him, to let her face show exactly how much she wanted–needed–this. 

Bright green eyes stayed locked on her blue and gold ones as his hands pulled them both up to their feet. Rowan stood in front of Aelin, his hands still hooked around her ass and kissed her as deeply as he could, both of them moaning into it.

His hands pulled at her thighs, and, getting the message about what he wanted, she jumped onto him, wrapping her legs around his waist. Rowan turned and started walking them to the back of the room where her desk was. He paused standing before it and Aelin reached back without moving her eyes off of his to knock the nameplate and trinkets from her desk. Thankfully, she had taken her laptop off her desk before the lunch period, so they didn’t have to worry about breaking anything worth actual money…except maybe the desk.

Rowan gently set her ass down on the edge of the desk and leaned down to kiss her again. Aelin’s hands grasped his arms as his mouth worked down her throat and collarbone, and he left a trail of kisses in his wake before getting down on his knees before her. 

She braced her hands behind her on the desk and inhaled sharply as he kissed her thighs, easing them open before him. This time, it was Aelin’s turn to moan at the sight of the other between their legs. 

“Come now, you just told me that I’m the who has to stay quiet.”

“Why don’t you go ahead and show me some of those manners you were telling me about?”

Rowan gave her a wicked smile and licked his way up and down her thighs as she tipped her head back in a sigh of pleasure. “Well well, isn’t someone demanding?”

Aelin’s groan of protest and frustration was cut off as Rowan finally moved his mouth directly onto her. His tongue lapped up her folds and immediately went to the bundle of nerves at the apex of her thighs, putting his fingers right where his tongue had licked her. 

She pressed her lips together to stifle a cry as his finger moved just on the outside of her. Rowan’s free hand grasped her thigh to the side of his head as he continued to tease her with his finger. 

“Rowan,” she ground out his name in a whisper and she could feel his smirk on her skin. Suddenly he placed his finger deep inside of her and blew on her clit. 

One of Aelin’s hands instantly gripped the desk, and if she had been thinking clearly she would have noticed the fingernail marks she was leaving in the dark wood. Her mouth was shaped in a silent moan, and Rowan would have paid good money to capture the face she was making in a picture. 

He moved his hand from her thigh and spread her folds to get better access to the sensitive spot that her muscles were clenching around. Rowan’s tongue lapped over it in rhythm with the strokes his finger–and then two–were making inside of her. Aelin’s legs began to shake soon after. 

He continued to work her, licking and stroking in a steady rhythm, thoroughly enjoying seeing how hard she was trying not to make any noise. She bit her lips, breathed through her nose, and dug her fingers into his hair to show the intense amount of pleasure she was going through. 

“Rowan.” His name was a prayer on her lips, a hope for the release that was building and building and so hard to keep contained. He stood and kissed her roughly as his two fingers went as far into her as possible and his thumb pressed against the nerves that his tongue had just been diligently working on. 

She finally found her release and her body clenched and then relaxed, her mind noticing a moment later how she could taste herself on his tongue but it thrilled her. Aelin allowed herself one moan into his mouth, even though she would have screamed if they weren’t in such a damned position. 

Rowan’s hands gripped her thighs and ass and tugged her to the edge of the desk. He positioned himself between her legs and flexed his hips against her, showing her he was ready if she was. He paused there, asking a silent question, as he continued to kiss her, and her hands wrapped around his tattooed shoulders and nodded against his mouth. 

Without waiting a moment longer for the thing he had been thinking about all day–more like weeks if he was being honest with himself–Rowan pushed himself inside of her, and moaned at the pleasure of finally being able to be inside this woman. 

Aelin ended the kiss to cry out at the full feeling of him, and moved her hips around just a bit to adjust to his significant size. He leaned his forehead against her, silently saying that he would do whatever made her most comfortable, and her hands came to grip the sides of his face to show that she was ready. 

He moved in and out of her slowly to give her a chance to get used to the feeling, but she just saw it as teasing. She growled against his lips and began to buck her hips forward to meet his. 

Rowan’s growl in response sent shivers down her spine and made her back arch with a sweet sigh on her lips. He pounded into her faster and faster while her head leaned forward to rest on his shoulder. 

No noise, Aelin had to remind herself. She started kissing and biting the sensitive skin of his neck, hissing against it whenever he hit a particularly sweet spot, to occupy her mouth. 

Even though she couldn’t see his face, she could tell it was driving him crazy by the way he wrapped his arms around to grip her ass and lift to her hips to a better angle for him. 

She felt another orgasm start to build but before it could crash down upon her, Rowan pulled out with a curse. Aelin didn’t have time to ask what was wrong before he pulled her off of the desk and spun her around, pressing her hips against the edge of the desk. Since he was so much taller, Aelin had to stand on her toes, but the height difference actually turned out to work in their favor for the position that it allowed him. 

She wasn’t sure what it was, but something about the angle of him in her was hitting the right spot, and she groaned audibly when he first pounded into her. Rowan paused as his hand quickly came around and pressed against her lips, silencing them, his own mouth right next to her ear. 

“Aelin, you can’t make noise, remember?” he whispered in her ear. Shit, she thought, I am not going to be able to stay quiet if he’s in me like this. 

One of the hands that had been steadying her against the desk gripped the wrist of Rowan’s hand that was against her mouth, and he tried to move his away, thinking that she was protesting, but her own gripped it tighter and held it there. It took him just a moment to realize that she would need his assistance to stay quiet. 

His free arm came around her waist to hold her up as he moved slowly inside of her. As he began to pick up the pace, Aelin leaned down onto the desk with her back arched to give him even better access to her. Rowan swiftly cursed under his breath and moved the hand from her waist onto her back, palm laid flat. 

She didn’t–couldn’t–think about anything else besides him inside her, his hand over her mouth, and the grunts that he was desperately trying to keep quiet. 

He pulled his hand away, much to her dismay, and grabbed her hips with both hands so he could speed up his rhythm even more. Aelin’s arms extended to grip the opposite edge of the desk, trying to ground herself as the orgasm finally ripped through her body. She opened her mouth and started to cry out, unable to stop herself, and Rowan reached down and pulled her up against his chest, returning the hand to her mouth in an attempt to stifle her groans, and gripped her body tight to him as he reached a pinnacle himself and released his moans into the skin of her shoulder. 

Neither of them moved as they caught their breath, Rowan’s hand lowering from her lips to join his other hand around her waist. The mouth that he had latched onto her shoulder started laying gentle, soothing kisses against it. 

Aelin couldn’t help but wince when he pulled himself out of her, and she turned around to enter the circle that his arms made for her. Leaning her head against his chest, she murmured, “So what was that you had wanted to tell me?”

He chuckled, pulled her face up to meet his, and smiled as he kissed her. “Oh I just wanted to tell you how badly I wanted to kiss you.”

Their smiles mirrored each others while their foreheads touched, both of them with eyes closed and just enjoying the feeling of the other’s touch. 

Aelin did not want to pull away but she forced herself to turn away to check the time and groaned when she saw it. “Shit. School ends in four minutes.” Which meant they had less than four minutes to put on clothes and pull themselves back together. She groaned again when she thought about how she’d have to stay here late to work on the tests she didn’t write in the last period. 

Rowan understood that they didn’t have all the time in the world for leisure so he started to gather clothing, handing her a bundle of her clothes. She hated the feeling of the cloth against her skin, much preferring his touch to that of the cotton. 

Neither of them took their eyes off each other as they attempted to make themselves look like they had not just had hot, steamy sex on top of her desk. 

He was the first one to break the silence. “If you don’t mind me asking, what’s that scar on your back?” If anyone else had asked, she would have flicked them off and told them to mind their own business, but with him…for some reason she was okay with him asking.

Aelin didn’t want to ruin the aftermath of their sex with her tale of cars and drunk drivers and surgery and pure terror, so she patted him on the chest and kissed him sweetly instead. “It’s a story for a different time.” He just nodded in understanding, and she was grateful that he understood pain well enough to know not to push people.

She dreaded the moment when she finally walked to the door and held it open for him, not wanting him to leave, but he just looked at her and shook his head. “You really want me to leave? Wow, my ego is hurt.”

“Don’t you–don’t you have to leave? Wouldn’t it be bad if you were seen in here?”

“As far as I’m aware, there is nothing wrong with me spending time in your classroom.”

Even though the idea of him staying here with her made her body thrum with pleasure, she certainly wasn’t going to let him see that. “Are you saying you want to sit in here and help me write this test?” she asked dubiously.

Rowan shrugged those broad, tattooed shoulders, now covered by his button down shirt–the sleeves of which were rolled up to the elbow because the buttons on the cuffs had been ripped off earlier–and perched himself on the edge of her desk with a cocky smile on his face. “I’ve got nothing better to do.”

Aelin couldn’t help the smile that spread across her face. She propped the door open so that nothing seemed suspicious if people passed by, and pulled up a chair besides her own as she went to sit down. 

For the next few hours, they sat there, behind the desk they had just had sex on, talking comfortably and thinking of questions for her students’ test. Rowan surprisingly knew a fair amount about biology for not being a biology teacher, and she would decide if a question was too difficult for her students based off of whether Rowan knew the answer or not.

Needless to say, this test was the easiest one Aelin’s students had had all year, but they had no idea that it was because their teacher was too distracted by the principal to bother thinking up harder questions.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first piece of fanfiction! Feel free to comment or message me with critiques! All feedback is appreciated.


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